A sack of flour and a bag of purps
by Manga Girl number 6
Summary: A glimpse into a chance encounter from Sarah's childhood seven years before she married Leland Hawkins .


**_Benbow, Montressor. Twenty years ago..._**

Back in the days when Montressor was a bustling mining planet, providing plentiful ore for the empire, the cities came alive with visitors, workers and their families. People from planets far and wide came to Montressor, seeking a job in the prolific mining industry. As a result, even the most impoverished family had a chance at picking themselves up by the bootstraps and getting ahead in life.

Sarah was running late. She always was, and not for lack of trying, but rather from always having her hands full with doing something else. She had three younger siblings to take care of while her father worked away in the mines.

Since her mother had died when she was eight, Sarah was the responsible caretaker of her family, making sure her brothers and sister stayed in line, helping them with their studies, and making sure that they were kept healthy, even though she herself was only ten years of age.

As such, Sarah found very little time for herself, having to stay on top of her own studies, as well as make sure that there was food ready and waiting for her father and siblings.

Now today, young Sarah was making her way through the packed marketplace. Her arms were full of her purchases; a few bags of produce, and a heavy sack of flour. She was struggling to carry them by herself, and the amount of people moving through the streets of Benbow were busy about their own business to care about getting out of her way or helping her.

Sarah readjusted the sack of flour on her shoulder for what felt like the tenth time and squinted through the dense crowd. At this rate, it would be nightfall before she managed to get home, her siblings would be crying from hunger and her father would be at a loss of what to do.

The young girl spotted a gap in the crowd and squeezed into it. She wove around carts of goods and passing shoppers until she finally came to an alleyway off the main road. There were hardly any people down the alley, a harsh contrast to the main road. Sarah shifted her apron about her waist, readjusted the sack of flour and walked down the alleyway.

She was able to make much greater time down the alley, but something seemed off. The few people that she had seen didn't look like the usual shoppers that filled the streets of Benbow. Instead there were beggars and some untrustworthy looking aliens. Sarah averted her eyes and instead focused on making her way home.

It wasn't too long before the groups of shady characters began to unnerve Sarah, to the point where she was regretting her choice of taking a shortcut. She walked faster than she normally would have with such a heavy load, and wasn't fully thinking of where she was going.

Upon encountering a dead end, Sarah was near tears and realized that she was hopelessly lost. She thought of her siblings and how she was letting them down, and of how disappointed her father would be _if _she were to make it home.

The sack of flour slipped from her shoulder. Sarah made a move to grab it but dropped a bag of groceries in doing so. Sarah scrambled to pick up the fallen produce; there were purps rolling around everywhere. Sarah's blue eyes were blurry with tears and she struggled to hold back a sob.

"Now what's a bonny lass like you doin' 'round these parts, huh?" A hearty voice answered from the shadows of the alley.

Sarah looked up from her spilled groceries at a young ursid of about thirty years of age. He was smoking a pipe and kept the right half of his body turned away from her, as if he was hiding something. Judging by what he was wearing, Sarah assumed that he was a sailor of some sort.

"Who- Who are you?" Sarah managed to say, her hands trembling from fear.

"Name's Silver," a mechanical hand rose up to pluck the hat from his head and the sailor took a deep bow, "At yer service, little missy."

Sarah's eyes were glued to hand. She followed it up and down the entire right half of the ursid's body. This sailor was a cyborg, his right arm, leg and part of his head were entirely mechanical.

"Now don't be discouraged from this hunk of hardware, I'm not gonna hurt you," Silver reassured the young girl.

Sarah couldn't tear her eyes from the mechanical parts. It was something which she was completely unfamiliar to.

"I can see that your a bit loss, lassy," Silver pointed out, "an' I'd be happy to show you the way home, if you'll let me."

Sarah sniffled, "I live on the eastern outskirts of Benbow," she hugged a bag of groceries to her chest.

"Well," Silver replaced the cap on his head and gathered up a few of the purps that had rolled towards his way, "we'd better be on our way if you want to be home before dark," he dropped the purps into the grocery bag and grabbed the sack of flour with his mechanical hand and carried it with ease.

Sarah gathered up the bags and followed alongside the ursid sailor, instinctively grabbing onto his hand as if he were her own father. Silver didn't seem to mind this, he seemed to be busy guiding them through the maze of alleys and keeping to the shadows. His cyborg eye was scanning the area out of caution.

They finally reached the outskirts of town. Silver remained in the shadows at the mouth of the alleyway and set the sack of flour on the ground.

"You got everything, lass?" He asked, glancing down at the young child.

"I believe I do," Sarah hefted the sack of flour over her shoulder, "won't you come in? I could make you something to eat, if you like."

"I don't want to be a burden, lass." Silver held up his hands and shook his head.

"But, I want to thank you for helping me." Sarah looked up at the cyborg.

Silver tilted his head, confused at the young girl's request. "Your heart is where it's supposed to be, lass, I'll give you that." He glanced up at the path leading to Sarah's home. "You best be off to your house before nightfall. Take care, lass."

With those final words, Silver disappeared into the shadows, leaving Sarah alone outside of her house.

The young girl stood still for a moment, thinking over what had just happened. She swatted a few bangs from her eyes and grabbed the rest of her groceries, turning on her heel. Sarah made her way home, but couldn't help looking back at where Silver had stood.

Upon entering her house, Sarah saw her father with her siblings, waiting inside for her.

"Thank goodness you're home Sarah!" her father pulled her into a tight hug, "we were worried about you."

"Why?" Sarah asked as her father stepped back, his hands still on her shoulders.

"There's been pirate sightings in town, Sarah. They say that the band of cutthroats is being lead by a cyborg."

Sarah's eyes widened as she looked down at her bag of groceries, seeing the purps set on top. Had she just encountered a pirate captain?


End file.
